


Reversal of Fortune

by faeyrearcherons



Category: Wintersong - S. Jae-Jones
Genre: Gen, Labyrinth References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 07:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10872495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeyrearcherons/pseuds/faeyrearcherons
Summary: As the barriers between two worlds crumble, Liesl and her brother go back to the realm of the Goblin King looking for answers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I’ve just finished Wintersong and I’m basically writing this fic to satiate my need for book 2.

I never expected to find myself here again. I faced death once, embraced it even – and yet death had let me go in the end. Since my reign as Goblin Queen ended I knew I wouldn’t have the same protections going down a second time.

Too many serious thoughts filled in to my head: _what if he won’t see me? what will I say if he does?_ And the pettier ones like: _what if there’s already a new goblin queen?_

I knew the Goblin King took other brides – it was one of the lessons in Constanze’s tales. _Girls who are too beautiful or too clever eventually fall prey to Der Erlkönig._ But the thought of my Goblin King with another woman made me more jealous than I cared to admit.

The deeper I went underground the greater my anxiety rose. When the Goblin King and I unmade our vows, I felt the effects immediately. When I escaped, his subjects tried to kill me – they were no longer under my control and their bloodlust was raw and uncontrollable. But now... there was nothing. No goblins shrieking, no Lorelei trying to drown me. I glanced uneasily at my younger brother. Perhaps he was the reason why.

Josef was a changeling, belonging both to the human and goblin world. The goblin’s power relied on human wishes. But unlike other changelings, my brother was made from a selfless wish, not a selfish one.

 _I will not let them take him,_ I vowed. _He doesn’t belong to anyone._ But my thoughts sounded weak even to myself.

When I came back from underground, only Käthe remembered. Mother, Father and even Constanze seemed oblivious to what had happened. So did everyone in the village. No one questioned my absence, it was as if I never left. I knew I couldn’t stay there, not after what I had been through.

Everyone treated me as the same queer, unlovely girl I had been. I was no longer the Goblin Queen, but neither was I an innkeeper’s daughter. So, I set out to join my brother in Vienna, to do the only thing that brought me joy – making music. Käthe understood my decision to leave, she was also leaving for Vienna alongside me but for different reasons.

Everything seemed to be going in a good place. Josef and I would compose music together in Vienna, Käthe would become a wealthy merchant’s wife and our family would finally be taken care of.

Our reversal of fortune began as soon as I left Bavaria. My initial joy of reuniting in Vienna faded as the days dragged on. My little brother was more cold and distant, even François was perplexed at the sudden change. And no matter how hard I tried to move on, not a day went by when I didn’t think about my Goblin King and the music he inspired within me.

Josef complained all my new pieces were too melancholic to play, while François was more likely to encourage me to keep composing.

 _You’re a genius, Elisabeth,_ he told me once _, if you were a boy, you would get farther along than he or even Master Antonius._

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. François’ statement was a compliment and an insult. Josef’s lover could admit my talents in private but without my brother, nobody else would take me seriously as a composer.

At first, I thought Josef’s change was due to him adjusting to Viennese life – a far cry from living in an obscure village in Bavaria. But as days turned into weeks and weeks into months a disturbing thought occurred. _What if this is because he’s a changeling?_ I tried to ignore it at first, but as his moods took a downward spiral and threatened both our musical careers, I knew I had to do something.

Before I left the underground, the Goblin King gave me his ring – a symbol of his power. The ring was silver in the shape of a wolf with blue and green gemstones as eyes. In the world aboveground, I noticed little changes at first. People occasionally pausing to glance at my ring, others giving me curious stares and some who kept faith in the old traditions treated me with peculiar reverence. As if I were _Der Erlkönig_ himself.

I knew the barriers between the worlds were blurring faster than I could process. I noticed goblins everywhere I went. The nicer ones teased me about how I was the only the second Goblin Queen to live. The less benevolent ones threatened great retribution for what I’d done. Breaking the old laws, they told me, was no minor offense and the Wild Hunt would find me soon.

The only protection I had was the wolf ring. It seemed to have some sway over the goblins because talk all they want; none could physically harm me or those under my protection. Which made me wonder how my Goblin King fared deep underground.

_Why was he losing control over his subjects? Did this mean his power has diminished?_

One late evening, when I was editing the final pieces for the wedding night sonata, Josef interrupted me out of my concentration.

“I want to go back,” he said. His tone was expressionless but in a calculated sort of way that stopped me cold. He had been preparing for this conversation. My face fell and I knew what he meant. Not go back to visit Mother and Father, but back to Goblin Grove.

“All this time, you knew I was a changeling yet you said nothing,” my baby brother’s voice was thick with tears. I avoided his gaze so I wouldn't start crying too.

“You don’t belong there Josef, you belong here in the world above,” I replied quietly. The warmth in his bright blue eyes suddenly turned to malice. 

“That wasn’t your choice to make!” he shouted, he paced around the room pulling at his hair, “No Liesl, you kept that from me out of selfishness. You knew I would want to be with my own kind.” 

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. I looked at Josef and saw how he’d changed. Gone was the innocent boy willing to please and replaced by a grim-faced young man. He went on the details of our departure but all I could do was look at my finished sonata, ruined by blotchy tears.

Josef’s wince of pain snapped me out of my reverie into where we were at the present. Underground, in the realm of the Goblin King. Both of us were here for answers.

“Are you alright?” I asked tentatively.

His hand skimming the walls paused briefly, “Yes,” was all he said.

Neither of us said a word going into the Goblin Grove, but as we were getting closer to the goblin city I felt the need to fill the silence with conversation. Maybe it was because I was nervous to see _Der Erlkönig_ again, maybe it was because I knew I would lose my brother.

But before I could say anything, the air around us suddenly turned cold and a sweeping wind sent us shivering in our cloaks. The ground beneath us shook and mist erupted from the rocks. Josef let out a sharp cry of terror and backed against the cave walls, nearly tripping himself in the process.

I whirled around Josef to protect him. As the mist drifted away, I saw the Goblin King straitening the lapels of his green coat.

“Hello, wife,” he drawled.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The Goblin King radiated sensual grace and ease. For a moment, we said nothing. His eyes met my own and for a second I thought I saw him – truly him – and the boy he’d once been. But his mismatched eyes blinked and the mask of _Der Erlkönig_ was up again once more.

“What are you doing here, Elisabeth?” his voice was smooth and cold.

I paused before answering. What could I say to the Goblin King, Lord of Mischief and Ruler of the Underground?

His mismatched eyes settled onto Josef, “Ah, it seems you’ve returned one of my subjects back to me. You shouldn’t have troubled yourself, my dear. All changelings eventually return where they belong.”

Josef said nothing.

“Why are the barriers between worlds blurring?” to my credit, my voice didn’t tremble.

“Tsk, tsk.” The Goblin King waved one long finger at me, “You’re smarter than that, Elisabeth. If you haven’t figured out why, then you know less than I gave you credit.”

He was right. I’d already known it was the wolf ring, the symbol of his power over the goblins, something he shouldn’t have given me. But why did he? 

“You already know the answer,” he said softly, shifting closer to me. By instinct, I angled myself closer to Josef – a protective gesture.

“Take it back,” I whisper, “If this ring is what’s causing the worlds to converge then take back your ring.” 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, my dear. Once a gift is given it can’t be given back.” He tilted his head to the side and gave me a small smile, exposing the tips of his pointed teeth.

A sudden realization dawned on me. “What game are you playing at?” I ask quietly, inwardly seething with rage. The ring was not the catalyst, it was a symptom not the disease. I was the disease. I was the one who broke the barriers and cause the imbalance between worlds. I was the sacrifice that should have died as Goblin Queen in the Underground. 

“If I told you, then it wouldn’t much fun, now would it?”

I remembered our last moments together, after he saved me from drowning, after he’d given me the ring. I asked him about any possible way of freeing him. _Don't look back,_ he had told me. There’s no way to circumvent the old laws but…

“What are the rules?” I demand.

“Simple,” he sidestepped around me and before I could react, grabbed Josef by the collar, “If you win, I shall allow your brother to live in the world above. If I win, he’ll become one of my subjects forever.”

That’s it? No, of course not, things were never simple with _Der Erlkönig._ There was more he wasn’t telling me. The Goblin King made me a promise for my freedom, but how much was his word worth against the old laws? 

“I don’t even know where to start.”

The Goblin King gave an exasperated sigh as if talking to a small child. “The answers you seek are in the world above, not below. My power is great, but you must hurry and leave before the sun sets.”

I stepped toward Josef, but the Goblin King raised one elegant hand and clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“Now, now, Elisabeth, up until now I’ve been generous–”

“Nothing you’ve done to us was generous,” Josef cried out. I was taken aback. It was the first assertive thing Josef has said since entering the Underground. “All you’ve been is cruel,” his eyes were wroth with hatred.

 _Der Erlkönig_ went pale, with either anger or shock I didn’t know. Neither of us were expecting Josef to speak.

“Everything your sister wished for I’ve granted. She wished for a brother, I gave her you. She wished to be queen, I gave her power over my subjects. I’ve broken the old laws by letting her go, knowing the repercussions. And I've done it all for her.” he seethed. For a moment, I saw a glimpse of who he had once been: a pompous young man who had foolishly accepted immortality, tricked into becoming _Der Erlkönig._ But only for a moment.

The Goblin King turned his attention back to me and his mask was up once more. “As I was saying, my dear, before being rudely interrupted,” he shot a venomous glance at Josef, “was that you have until sunset to leave. That is how long my subjects will not harm you, but any moment more and they’ll tear you to shreds,” he grinned at me, “Isn’t that generous?” he asked.

It couldn’t be. It’s impossible. _The answers you seek are in the world above,_ he had said.

Does he want me to find a way to free him and break the old laws?

“How much time to I have?” I asked softly.

“Tsk, Tsk, so demanding, Elisabeth,” he sighed, “you push my generosity to no bounds. You and your brother knew the stakes when you chose to return to my realm.”

I straightened my shoulders. My gaze fell onto my younger brother, _Farewell, mein Brüderchen. God willing, we will see each other again,_ I wanted to say. But I knew saying anything to him would break me.

 _God has forsaken this place,_ his eyes seemed to say. Perhaps he too was at a loss for words. He and I were always better expressing ourselves through music rather than words.

The Goblin King moved closer, his long, elegant fingers cupping my chin and forcing me to meet his gaze. When he kissed my cheek, his lips were cold.

 _Viel Glück, Elisabeth,_ he murmured, _Ich habe dich vermisst._

Then I was gone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the German is a bit off! I know next to nothing of the language.


End file.
